American: Native Empire

< 47. Growth of Private Capital >

Gulp, gulp.

“Ahh! Nothing beats the taste of liquor on land. Hehe.”

“Haha. I didn’t mind drinking on the ship either.”

“You can’t get drunk like this on the ship.”

“That’s true. And nowadays, there are even captains who forbid drinking on the ship. If you get caught, they deduct it from your salary without mercy.”

“Huh. That’s too harsh, even if they have a reason.”

The Curved Wind frowned as if he didn’t like the idea.

“Hey, should I buy a ship and start my own trading company?”

“Do you have enough money for that?”

“Of course not. I have to gather some like-minded fellows.”

“You don’t mean one of them is me, do you?”

“Haha. Who else but you? You must have saved up some money too.”

“Well, yeah. I didn’t have much to spend on except for drinking.”

The Swift Arrow nodded.

It was true that he had amassed a considerable amount of wealth by working on ships until now.

In fact, the Swift Arrow had also thought about starting his own trading company at some point. That’s why he became more interested.

“Hmm. Should I seriously consider it? You, me, and a few more people should be enough to buy a ship, don’t you think?”

“It would be better to run our own trading company and transport goods ourselves, as long as we don’t run into any accidents.”

Of course, their current salary was not bad either.

Most of the citizens of the Wacantanga Empire received a fairly generous salary.

This was largely influenced by the various industries that the nation was running.

The empire still lacked manpower.

Therefore, if the workers felt that they were not getting paid properly, they quit their jobs without hesitation and chose to work directly for the empire.

Moreover, working on ships was harder than other jobs, so the salary was higher.

But no matter how high the salary was, it was less than the profit they could get by running their own trading company.

Of course, if they were damaged by natural disasters or accidents, they would have to take full responsibility as the owners of the ship.

“Alright. I agree.”

“Really? Then there’s no backing out?”

“Don’t say anything else. I won’t do that.”

“Then let’s gather some people who share our vision. Who knows? Maybe our trading company will become as big as the Storm Trading Company?”

“Haha. That would be great!”

That’s how they decided while drinking.

This was not just their story.

There were countless trading companies being established in the empire right now.

The process of creating a trading company was mostly similar.

First, they gathered people who had the same goal.

Then they collected enough money to buy a ship.

Naturally, there were people who paid more and people who paid less in this process.

People came up with the concept of shares here.

They received a portion of the profit from the trading company according to the ratio of the money they initially invested.

Anyway, with the money they gathered, they bought a ship and hired as many sailors as they needed.

The Wacantanga Empire still had enough demand for transportation, so the trading companies could make a decent profit.

That’s how the private capital of the empire continued to grow in scale.

Needless to say, not all trading companies were satisfied with a moderate profit.

The main goal of a trading company was to earn as much wealth as possible.

This was also true for the Lightning Trading Company, which was one of the top ten trading companies in the empire.

“Hmm. It seems like our growth has stagnated lately. Should we try to expand to the Andes region?”

The regular meeting of the Lightning Trading Company.

The owner of the trading company, Quiet Sea, asked.

But the answer he got was negative.

“Indeed, trading with the Andes region is very profitable… But as you know, sir, we need to buy new ships that can sail to the west sea.”

“That’s right. The ships that can sail on the big sea are expensive.”

“Yes. To buy that many ships, we would have to sell the ones we are currently operating. That would be a loss, wouldn’t it?”

“We can’t do that!”

Quiet Sea shook his head quickly.

Selling ships secondhand was a foolish thing to do. They had to sell them cheaper than new ships because they had been used before.

“Hmm. Then are you saying we should be content with our current situation?”

Quiet Sea’s voice was full of regret.

He had been carrying loads and traveling around various regions since he was a Creek tribe member.

He had accumulated wealth stubbornly for a long time.

And he made this trading company with people who were similar to him.

He bought a ship as soon as they started producing them, and transported goods without rest.

That’s how he achieved this scale.

‘Damn. I should have expanded to the west sea back then.’

Around the time when trade with the Andes region just began.

Quiet Sea didn’t bother to buy a ship for the dangerous west sea.

He didn’t think he could get so much gold, silver, and guano from the Andes region, and he thought the income from the mainland was enough.

But he felt twisted when he saw the trading companies that were growing in the west sea.

When Quiet Sea was thinking like that.

“Um… Can I say something?”

“Do you have any good ideas?”

The youngest person among the attendees of the trading company meeting, Yellow Footprint, raised his hand cautiously.

He had graduated from middle school with excellent grades, and could have gone to the Imperial University, but he didn’t.

And he joined the Lightning Trading Company right away.

He wanted to earn more wealth than go to college.

With Quiet Sea’s permission, Yellow Footprint opened his mouth.

“I think our current situation is not bad either. The empire will continue to expand, and the demand for transportation will not decrease in the future. If our trading company keeps growing steadily like this, it wouldn’t be bad, would it?”

Quiet Sea was quite disappointed by Yellow Footprint’s words.

But he had to listen to the end.

His words were not over yet.

“But sir, don’t you want our trading company to grow faster than now? Then we have to take a risk.”

“A risk?”

“Yes. In the past, the Storm Trading Company was similar in size to our Lightning Trading Company. But they took a gamble and moved their base to Yanghae to sail to the west sea. You know the result. They became the best trading company in the empire.”

“That’s true.”

“They succeeded in their risk. Why can’t we do the same?”

Quiet Sea nodded at his words, but he also showed some doubt.

“It’s easy to say. What kind of risk are you talking about? Don’t beat around the bush and tell me.”

“My answer is this.”

Yellow Footprint took out a small pouch from his pocket.

And then.

Shooosh.

He opened the mouth of the pouch and poured it on the desk.

Then a white powder revealed itself on the desk.

Quiet Sea recognized what it was at a glance.

“Sugar?”

“Yes. You know how high the demand for sugar is in the empire right now. But the supply is ridiculously low compared to the demand. As a result, the price of sugar is incredibly high.”

“Hmm. But there are some trading companies that have a tight grip on the sugar market. It would be hard to compete with them now.”

“Why do we have to compete with them? We can get sugar from somewhere else.”

“Where exactly?”

“Look at this map.”

Yellow Footprint approached Quiet Sea and unfolded a map.

It was a map that roughly depicted the mainland and the surrounding sea of the Wacantanga Empire.

Yellow Footprint pointed his finger at one of the islands on the map.

“Cobao Island?”

“Yes. Have you ever heard of it?”

Cobao Island was none other than modern Cuba.

“It’s where the Taino tribe lives. I’ve heard of it.”

The empire had already started some contact with them when they explored the Mexico Bay and Caribbean Sea area.

Quiet Sea couldn’t not know this fact.

“Cobao is a big island. And it’s also close to the mainland of the empire. Not only that. There are many Taino tribe people living on Cobao Island. It means they have abundant labor force.”

Then Sturdy Legs realized what this young man was trying to say.

“You want them to grow sugarcane?”

“Yes.”

“Heh… You don’t mean to conquer Cobao Island by force, do you?”

If he did that, Kim Ki-woo would dismantle the Lightning Trading Company in an instant, and Quiet Sea would be severely punished.

“You don’t mean to hire them either, do you?”

Hiring Taino tribe people was also practically difficult.

Kim Ki-woo had imposed strict regulations on hiring people who were not imperial citizens.

“Of course not. We don’t need to hire them. We just need to give them sugarcane farming methods and seeds, and let them farm on their own. Then we can buy the sugarcane they grow for a fair price, isn’t that simple?”

“Hmm. Buy sugarcane?”

“Yes. What’s the difference between trading with the Andes region or Cobao Island? Besides, Cobao Island is mostly flat and has a climate suitable for sugarcane farming, so it can’t get any better than this.”

Quiet Sea was silent for a while, digesting his words slowly.

‘Indeed…’

The possibility was enough.

No, Quiet Sea thought that if things went according to plan, he could quickly increase the assets of his trading company.

The imperial law only prohibited direct employment of non-imperial residents, but this kind of trade was rather encouraged.

And it would be a good thing for imperial citizens if the supply of sugar increased.

He had heard that there were many Taino tribe people living on Cobao Island.

If they grew sugarcane, it wouldn’t cost any manpower from the empire, so he could save on labor costs.

“Hahaha! A talent who graduated from middle school with excellence is different indeed! It’s a very good plan. Good! I’ll entrust this matter to you. I’ll push hard for you, so do as you please!”

“Thank you. I’ll make sure to succeed, sir.”

The faces of the trading company executives who attended the meeting turned pale with surprise.

Yellow Footprint hadn’t been in the Lightning Trading Company for long.

But he already became in charge of one area.

It was an incredibly fast promotion.

Yellow Footprint felt their reaction too, but he didn’t care much.

His ideal was not just this much.

***

After that.

Yellow Footprint was busy moving around.

The first place he visited was the Imperial Foreign Affairs Department.

“I’m from the Lightning Trading Company, and we’re planning to trade with the natives of Cobao Island. Could you provide us with an interpreter?”

“Hmm. Interpreting is not difficult, but there’s not much to trade with Cobao Island.”

Yellow Footprint explained their plan.

It was not hard to persuade them. The foreign affairs official who could speak the Taino language was interested in Yellow Footprint’s story.

“Alright. It would help the empire if the price of sugar went down.”

With that, the interpreter was secured.

Yellow Footprint then hired someone who knew how to farm sugarcane.

And he led them across to Cobao Island.

The foreign affairs department had already established some rapport with the Taino tribe on Cobao Island, so there was no dangerous situation.

Yellow Footprint gave sugar to the Taino tribe and let them taste it.

“Wow! It’s so sweet!”

A Taino man exclaimed at the sweetness of sugar.

“This powder comes from a plant called sugarcane. And sugarcane grows very well on this land where you live. If you want, we can teach you how to grow sugarcane.”

“Is that true?”

“Yes. If you grow sugarcane, we will buy it from you at a high price.”

“Wow! Can we get more of your clothes and shoes, dishes and ornaments?”

“Of course. If you grow sugarcane and give it to our trading company, we will give you much more goods than now.”

The first Taino people they met liked Yellow Footprint’s proposal very much.

The excellence of the imperial products was already widely known in various regions, including Cobao Island.

The rest was a breeze.

Yellow Footprint taught them how to farm sugarcane as promised.

As expected, sugarcane grew very well on Cobao Island.

As sugarcane began to be cultivated gradually on Cobao Island, Yellow Footprint bought a lot of sugarcane from the Taino tribe.

He gave them not only industrial products but also surplus food from the mainland as payment.

“Huh! Is this for real?”

“You haven’t seen anything yet. This is only a fraction of the sugarcane grown in some parts of Cobao Island. If most of Cobao Island grows sugarcane, you will get much more profit than now.”

“Hahaha! I’m glad I trusted you! You did a great job! Please keep it up!”

Quiet Sea was so happy that he laughed loudly and patted Yellow Footprint’s shoulder repeatedly.

It was only natural, since he got a lot of sugar, which was called white gold, with relatively cheap imperial products and food.

The profit he would get from this would be astronomical, and it would grow even more over time.

Of course, other trading companies were not fools either, and they would also extend their tentacles to the regions near the central continent, including Cobao Island, but by then they would have firmly rooted themselves there.

This eventually led to the saying ‘The storm blows in the west and the lightning strikes in the east.’

That’s how much the Lightning Trading Company leaped to become a giant trading company comparable to the Storm Trading Company.

That’s how giant trading companies appeared in the Wacantanga Empire as well.